His fifth samovar – Morozevich wins 64th Moscow Blitz

9/1/2010 – Many were worried about his recent absence from the chess circuit. The very volatile GM Alexander Morozevich, who has dropped from number two in the world (July/October 2008) to 37th in the current list, was in great form in the yearly Moscow Blitz Championship, taking first place with 14.0/19 points. We bring you lots of interesting portraits in this
pictorial report by WGM Yana Melnikova.

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64th Moscow Blitz Championship

Report by WGM Yana Melnikova

The 64th Anniversary Moscow Blitz Championship took place on Sunday, hosted
by the Russian State Social University, where every year the traditional Moscow
Open Festival is held. In two weeks the Women's World Blitz Championship will
be held at the university. The prizes for the Moscow Blitz 2010 were sponsored
by the newspaper Vechernyaya Moskva (Evening Moscow).

The winner of the main tournament was Alexander Morozevich, who scored 14 points
out of 19 games. Mikhail Kobalia finished second, half a point behind the winner.
Bronze went to the young grandmaster Vasily Papin, who was the big surprise
in this tournament. Here are all the results in the style of the progressive
scoreboard used at such events:

#

Player

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

Pts

Rnk

1

Mozharov, Mikhail

½

0

1

½

0

0

½

1

1

0

0

1

1

0

0

½

0

½

0

7.5

14

2

Vasiukov, Evgeni

½

0

0

0

0

1

1

0

0

0

0

½

0

½

0

0

½

1

0

5

18

3

Shipov, Sergei

1

1

1

1

½

0

0

0

0

0

0

1

1

½

½

1

0

1

½

10

11

4

Dragomarezkij, Ev.

0

1

0

1

½

0

½

0

½

1

0

1

0

0

0

0

0

1

1

7.5

12

5

Khruschiov, Alexey

½

1

0

0

1

0

0

½

1

0

0

½

1

0

½

0

0

0

½

6.5

16

6

Popov, Ivan

1

1

½

½

0

½

1

1

1

½

1

1

1

1

½

0

½

0

½

12.5

7

7

Papin, Vasily

1

0

1

1

1

½

½

1

1

½

½

1

1

½

0

0

½

1

1

13

III

8

Nikolenko, Oleg

½

0

1

½

1

0

½

½

1

1

0

1

½

1

1

0

1

0

1

11.5

8

9

Smagin, Sergey

0

1

1

1

½

0

0

½

0

½

0

1

1

0

0

0

1

0

0

7.5

13

10

Mesropov, Konst.

0

1

1

½

0

0

0

0

1

1

0

1

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

6.5

17

11

Dubov, Daniil

1

1

1

0

1

½

½

0

½

0

1

1

1

0

1

1

0

½

0

11

9

12

Amonatov, Farrukh

1

1

1

1

1

0

½

1

1

1

0

1

1

½

½

0

0

½

1

13

5

13

Petukhov, Yury

0

½

0

0

½

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

1

0

0

0

0

1

0

3

20

14

Vlassov, Nikolai

0

1

0

1

0

0

0

½

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

1

0

1

0

4.5

19

15

Jakovenko, Dmitry

1

½

½

1

1

0

½

0

1

1

1

½

1

1

1

½

0

1

½

13

4

16

Kobalia, Mikhail

1

1

½

1

½

½

1

0

1

1

0

½

1

1

0

1

½

1

1

13.5

II

17

Korotylev, Alexey

½

1

0

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

0

1

1

0

½

0

1

½

0

12.5

6

18

Morozevich, Alex.

1

½

1

1

1

½

½

0

0

1

1

1

1

1

1

½

0

1

1

14

I

19

Vorobiov, Evgeny E.

½

0

0

0

1

1

0

1

1

1

½

½

0

0

0

0

½

0

0

7

15

20

Bareev, Evgeny

1

1

½

0

½

½

0

0

1

1

1

0

1

1

½

0

1

0

1

11

10

Picture gallery

The President of the International School Chess Union Alexander Kostiev
and the
head of the Moscow Chess Federation Vassily Zhukov open the Championship

The venue of the Moscow Blitz in the Russian State Social University

Two top ranked GMs: Mikhail Kobalia and Evgeny Bareev

Kobalia in action – the 32-year-old Russian GM came second, with 13.5/19
points

Evgeny Bareev finished 10th with 11.0/19 points. A former top-ten player and
second of Vladimir Kramnik is currently running on the weReurope
ticket of the Turkish Chess Federation President Ali Nihat Yazici for ECU
Presidency. Evgeny is a really funny guy and a world-class cynic.

Sergei Shipov finished 11th with 10/19 points. Sergey wa a former blitz sparring
partner of Garry Kasparov (in his best years), the author of a book called "The
complete Hedgehog", and a very well-respected Internet commentator and
chess couch. When we asked him for a link to which to send people he gave us
www.hmmm?.com – but then settled on Crestbook,
where he does most of his work.

Fifteenth: Evgeny E. Vorobiov, with 7.0/19 points

Sixteenth: Alexey Khruschiov, with 6.5/19 points

Yury Petukhov, 20th with 3.0/19 points

Evgeni Dragomarezkij, twelfth with 7.5/19 points

Ninth: Daniil Dubov, with 11.0/19 points

Ivan Popov, seventh place with 12.5/19 points

Alexey Korotylev, sixth with 12.5/19 points

Mikhail Mozharov, fourteenth with 7.5/19 points

The big surprise: GM Vasily Papin came third with 13.0/19

The winner: Alexander Morozevich, with 14 points out of 19 games

Apart from the usual prizes the winner traditionally receives a Russian samovar

Alexander Morozevich won the championship for the fifth time, and thus became
the owner of his fifth samovar. The greatest number was collected by the immortal
Michael Tal – he had 12 samovars!

WGM Valentina Gunina with a truly astounding result

In the women's section WGM Valentina Gunina, member of the Russian National
team, 21 years old and rated 2465, produced an incredible 100% result, winning
all seventeen games she played.

See also

3/27/2018 – Sergey Karjkin didn't succeed in posing serious problems for Ding Liren and after, what he called, a "terrible blunder", he had to scramble to save a draw. That left Caruana in great shape to win the tournament. Mamedyarov struggled to find winning chances with black against Kramnik, but in the end that game ended drawn as well. Caruana, needing only a draw, was in command against Grischuk and even won the game to finish in clear first by a full point! | Photo and drawings by World Chess

See also

1/28/2018 – Magnus Carlsen won the 80th Tata Steel Masters which was decided in a blitz tiebreak over Dutch number one Anish Giri. The players contested two blitz games with 5 minutes plus 3 seconds per move, with no sudden death Armageddon game needed. Vidit played solidly to earn a draw that was enough to win the Challengers, as Korobov could not manage to pull off a win with black on-demand. | Photo: Alina l'Ami TataSteelChess.com

Video

Former World Champion Mikhail Botvinnik liked to play the French and once described it as a 'difficult and dangerous opening'. But in this 60 minutes video IM Andrew Martin suggests an aggressive and little-used idea of the renowned attacking player GM Viktor Kupreichik to counter the French: 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Be3!?. Andrew Martin uses the games of Kupreichik to show why this line could catch many French aficionados unprepared and is very dangerous for Black. Attacking players will love this line and the unusual complications that it promotes.